Campus Name

---

West Virginia Wesleyan College -- Center for Community Engagement

 

Campus Location

---

Buckhannon, WV (Link for Google Map Location)

 

Campus Contacts

---

Evey Hepinger / hepinger_be@wvwc.edu / (304) 473-8165

Brooke Rawson / rawson_be@wvwc.edu / (304) 473-8397

59 College Avenue

Buckhannon, WV 26201

Website: http://www.wvwc.edu/commservice

Wikis: http://wvwc.pbwiki.com , http://wvwcbonner.pbwiki.com

 

Issue Focus Area(s)

---

Arts and Economic Development

 

Brief Overview

---

The Main Street Arts Co-Operative began with a discussion between local artisans and the Center for Community Engagement in July 2008. The Arts Co-Operative meets an immediate need in our community for a great exposure to and education about the visual arts in Upshur County. We identified the Arts Co-Operative as a community partner for this project, because of their need for creating websites, wikis, blogs and short movies about the artisans and their work. It is also a great opportunity for our students to work with a new project that is in its creation phase and be an integral part of bringing the Arts Co-Op to life. In addition, the Board of the Arts Co-Op is open to using new technology and supporting students in leadership and learning capacities. The prospect of this new partner being up and running by Fall 2009 also has created a buzz on campus as there is an excitement about this new volunteer opportunity. Having students over the summer to use Serve 2.0 technology to assist with volunteer recruitment, PR, and education about artists will build capacity for volunteer opportunities to begin immediately in the Fall.

 

Key Community Partners

---

The Main Street Arts Co-Op

 

Social Media Tools to Be Used

---

This project will focus on four social media tools to enhance the Main Street Arts Co-Operative: YouTube, blogging, a fundraising platform and Facebook. With these technologies, the project will broaden the knowledge base of the organization on campus and in the Upshur County community through online marketing, volunteer recruitment, fundraising and other organizational needs.

• YouTube – Equipped with Flip cams, students will document all aspects of the organization: artists and their work, community events, volunteer projects, etc. The students will then upload the videos onto YouTube, where links to the video can be shared or embedded into other social media outlets. (i.e. blogs, Facebook, etc.) Since the organization is new, creating these videos for online sharing will not only answer a need for marketing and PR, but will also engage students in a new way within the community as they travel to different sites within the county to capture artists and their work. In addition to publishing videos to YouTube, students will be able to publish to a formal website created by students in the West Virginia Wesleyan College Department of Art and Design.
• Blogging – Students will compose and publish stories of the organization’s news and events using blogging technology to increase awareness within the campus and local communities. This will also function as a tool for marketing and PR for the organization as it strives to build capacity.
• Fundraising – Using the online fundraising platform ‘Changing the Present’, the students and organization will be able to raise money for the initial costs of location setup, as well as on-going volunteer projects or events. The links and widgets associated with the platform will be incorporated within the other social media tools, so as to create a comprehensive effort. The organization is currently applying for 501c-3 status; thus, it will be able to utilize the features of the platform.
• Facebook – Facebook will serve as the project’s main social media hub, incorporating all the other tools on one page for all users to see. Members of the Arts Co-Operative and student volunteers will administer the Facebook group/page, and use it as the primary volunteer recruitment tool. With the ability to advertise events, projects, videos, photos and more, the Facebook group/page will create a network of campus and community members interested in the organization.

 

Link to Campus Organizing Strategies

---

Brief description of how the initiative builds on your campus organizing approaches

 

Goals of Initiative

---

Through their participation in this project, students will:

• Build their skills in using Serve 2.0 technology in order to meet community need.
• Learn about local artisans by researching their work, life histories and how they conduct their craft. Record these stories through the use of FlipCams, blogs and new media technology.
• Learn how to use technology to assist with marketing and promotion, as well as volunteer recruitment.
• Gain insight as to how a non-profit art center is created from the bottom up.

 

Key Activities and Timelines

---

March/April 2009: 

• Identify initial student volunteers

April/May 2009:

• Train students, members of Arts Co-Operative in Serve 2.0 technologies

June-August 2009:

• Begin traveling to sites to capture stories and video
• Begin social media activity: Create profiles for all online tools, begin publishing blog stories and videos, work on Arts Co-Operative website
• Grand opening of Main Street Arts Co-Operative (August)

September-December 2009: (Fall Semester)

• Recruit new students as necessary for various projects
• Maintain and update all social media tools as necessary

January-June 2010:

• Recruit new students as necessary for various projects
• Maintain and update all social media tools as necessary

July 2010:

• Send in final grant report to Bonner Foundation 

  

---

Full proposal (attached):

WVWC Proposal